This Parent Found a Genius Way to Break Her Toddler's TV Addiction — and You Won't Believe What Happened Next
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Exhausted parent and Reddit user Iwanttosleep8hours learned the hard way how quickly permitting your toddler to watch an episode of their favorite show in the morning can spiral into a full-on television addiction. In a now-viral post, the user candidly wrote, "I'm really embarrassed to admit this but my toddler became a tv addict. It started with him waking at 4-4:30 every morning and it became the only way he would stay quiet." Soon, this parent's 2-year-old son was asking for TV constantly and having meltdowns when he was denied it.
This parent swore over and over that tomorrow would be the day they cut out TV, but, as any desperate and sleep-deprived parent understands, you'll do just about anything to keep your child entertained when he wakes up hours before dawn. Recently, however, this genius parent was able to break the toddler's TV addiction — and stumbled upon the solution by accident:
The other morning I couldn't find the remote, we looked for 10 minutes until my son happily gave up and decided to eat breakfast. I had time for 5 minutes peace and then we went and hung out on his room. The next day I decided to hide it again. We looked for it but he soon gave up again without being upset. This morning was day 3 and tv wasn't the first thing on his mind amazingly.
The toddler is coping surprisingly well without TV; in fact, he's actually behaving even better than before! The user says he's been curious and content, exploring his surroundings and playing with his toys and pets. And to top it off, this parent says that he just slept until 7 a.m. for the first time ever. Wow!
Not only are we blown away by how simple yet genius Reddit user Iwanttosleep8hours's tip is, but we're giddy about its potential for helping to break other bad toddler addictions; time to get rid of bottles? Hide them! Want to break a pacifier habit? Hide the pacifier! The list goes on.